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KU notebook: Tarik Black improving, expected to play at TCU

LAWRENCE — Senior forward Tarik Black didn’t practice Wednesday after suffering a sprained ankle in the second half of Kansas’ 78-68 victory over Baylor on Monday.

The 6-foot-9 Memphis transfer said Thursday he was improving, though, while Self said Black should be fine for Saturday’s game at TCU.

“I definitely feel a lot better. I’m walking around normal,” Black said. “I’ll be on the court (Thursday) doing some things. I’m definitely getting a lot better and progressing at a fast rate, so I can’t complain at all.”

SELF DOWN ON REPLAY —Monday’s KU-BU game featured a pair of instances where officials went to courtside TV monitors to see if a flagrant 1 foul had occurred. In both cases, the video showed no contact while causing a delay.

“I think that's a negative part of our game. It's too slow. It slows the game up too much,” Self said. “It's not the officials' fault because the rules say to do that. I think we're going to the monitor way, way, way too much.”

WIGGINS, EMBIID MAKE USBWA LIST — KU freshmen Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid were two of 23 players nationally selected to the Oscar Robertson Trophy midseason list released by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association on Thursday. The pair were two of only six freshmen to make the list.

KU FOOTBALL PICKS UP DL — D.J. Williams, a 6-foot-3, 270-pound defensive tackle from Lufkin High School in Texas, orally committed to the KU football team on Thursday morning, according to JayhawkSlant.com.

Williams, a three-star Rivals recruit and the 38th-best defensive tackle in the class of 2014, had earlier offers from Missouri, Miami (Fla.), Oklahoma and others.